3 comments about A Healing Family.

1. My first book by Kenzaburo was Silent Cry. Recently I read A Healing Family and found that I really liked it a lot. Yukari's illustrations were beautiful. This book made me feel closer to Oe's family. It is very heart-warming.

   At the time I read it, I was in the process of deciding whether to get my wisdom teeth extracted by a dentist or an oral surgeon. I heard that my face would be bruised and swollen, my jaws unhinged, etc. after the surgery. It was quite unnerving just to think about it. Then I read that Hikari has to make weekly visits to the dentist, and that his epileptic pills make his gum terribly swollen. I felt that I am in a much much better situation than some people. It was a consolation to read this book.

   One thing I don't quite like about most of Kenzaburo's books is that he refers to a lot of other European writers and their works, which I find hard to understand. Well, that's just my ignorance.




2. Kenzaburo Oe, the Japanese novelist who won the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature, was 28 when his son, Hikari, was born. This event was the most important in Oe's life. Born with a herniated brain, Hikari has needed almost constant care since birth. "A Healing Family" is Oe's first non-fiction attempt to make sense of Hikari's life and the effect it has had on the people around him, most importantly his family.

   This beautiful book shows the profound love, affection and pride the Oe family take in Hikari's accomplishments and happiness. From the age of five, Hikari has been obsessed with classical music, and eventually began to compose pieces for piano and violin. Much of "A Healing Family" concerns Oe's attempts to understand his son through music.

   "A Healing Family" is a book everyone should read. Finely crafted, perceptive, intelligent and moving, it shows us again that compassion and empathy can make all the difference in the world.




3. Hard to believe that no one else has written a review of this book because it is excellent... Oe's manner of dealing with his son's affliction and the effects it has on his family is truly amazing... His manner is truly one of love and serenity.... Without any reservations, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about "heart"...

No comments about Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro (Literary Conversations Series).

No comments about Kannani and Document of Flames: Two Japanese Colonial Novels.

5 comments about The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography.

1. Home Building & Loan Assocation verses Blaisdell, the court stated, an emergency does not create power; an emergency does not increase granted power or remove or diminish the restrictions imposed upon power granted or reserved; an emergency may furnish the occasion for the exercise of power; the war power of federal government is not granted by the emergency of war, but is the power given to meet the emergency and it is the power to wage war successfully; even the war power does not remove constitutional limitations safeguarding essential liberties; the general clauses of the constitution grant and limit power of the federal government; the general clauses set specific prohibitions constraining power.
   
   The invisible thread explores the connection between Japan and America for the Uchida family. The central nexus is a missionary university in Japan. Yoshiko's mother Iku gained her education at the Missionary University, worked for a professor, and was introduced by the professor to Takashi. The introduction lead to an arranged marriage after Takashi advanced significantly in his career. In ten years, Takashi had gained an admirable job working for the Mitsui Company. Iku studies included advanced American Literature studies. Takashi work ethic, knowledge, and skills distinguished him as a brilliant student and a masterful businessman. The transplant of such talent enriched America. The industrial enterprises of Japan on American soil provide jobs, productivity, and economic growth. Yoshiko talks extensively about how her parent included her and her sister Keiko on many outings, such as plays, musicals, concerts, and movies. Yoshiko was a part of the emerging cultural explosion of the early forties. The connection to the Christian Church in Japan remained strong and cross cultural exchanges allowed Japanese ministers to arrive at the Uchida home where Japanese food was prepared, hot baths provide, letters exchanged, and ideas communicated. The invisible thread binding the family to the Japan was a constant theme in Yoshiko's early life. The warm Japanese culture provided a sense of meaning and stability against the constant racism that bombarded the family.
   
   The safeguarding of "essential liberties" was guaranteed by the constitution were preempted for the Japanese, a bloody war with millions dying, pearl harbor feeding fear upon Americans and escalating potential violence, and anti-foreigner sentiment statement became common. It was claimed that five thousand Japanese Americans refused to denounce the Emperor of Japan, a God in the flesh personage; Japanese Americans never had any loyality to the emperor to begin with; but the names of the individuals were not circulated nor confirmed; a case of compelling real danger was not demonstrated; no militia was required too suppressed a rebellious Japanese uprising; the Japanese American was a loyal, hardworking, and honest person with Christ-like attributes. The Japanese were very sensitive too their American communities and many heartfelt gestures were extended.
   
   Did the court prove a connection between the Japanese American and a military crisis? No. The Supreme court applied separability and did not address connectability.
   
   A person may not be able to define Justice, but that individual definitely understands when an injustice has been committed.
   
   Takashi was sentenced to prison because he worked for a Japanese company and the family was separated. We see that when the "general clauses" of the constitution are relaxed the people suffer. The contractual bounds of the law were relaxed and the constitution then failed to protect the Japanese American's from being stripped of their property, expelled from lucrative business dealings, and driving behind wired fences.
   
   The economic drain on California must have been immense. The specific prohibitions of political power was designed to limit government from intruding upon the civil liberties of the citizen. Legal precedence often opens doors of power. The preemption of Japanese civil rights started with court cases starting with creditor and home foreclosure acts which the court ruled against where a emergency power extending the payment terms was not rule unconstitutional. If the emergency power was ruled unconstitutional and the borrowed allowed to move into foreclosure the precedence would have been far better for the Japanese American.



2. The memoir, The Invisible Thread, tells the story of a young Japanese girl during the 1930's. Yoshiko Uchida goes through so many unjust events in her younger ages due to the fact that she is Japanese even though she is a Nisei, the second generation of Japanese immigrants. Through Yoshiko's eyes her life, with her older sister and parents, was full of hardships and pain. "Do you cut Japanese hair?" was one of the embarrassing questions Yoshiko had to ask. This capturing novel is an excellent example of a Japanese girl's life during and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
   I grew to love the description of a happy Japanese family living in Berkley, CA. That family was Yoshiko Uchida, her daring older sister, Keiko Uchida, and their two loving Issei ( first generation) parents. The Japanese racism doesn't really stand out in the beginning but it later jumps right in and turns Yoshiko's life upside down. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor many Japanese were suspected and questioned, then taken away for labor. The Uchida family was one of the unlucky families where the father was taken away to work in Montana and the rest of the family were evacuated to a Tanforan where they lived for five long months. After reading these few chapters of horror and despair I compared it to the blissful and loving beginning and realized how this change that had nothing to do with them directly almost destroyed them.
   In the story Yoshiko Uchida does a fair job of describing the characters, that are not only herself, in a realistic way. Keiko, a curious and inquisitive young being is always wondering and fully spirited throughout the book in rain or shine. She has a strong will but also a level head most of the time. Mama's characteristics were rarely mentioned in the story but it is perceived that she is a cheerful housewife and, along with Papa, likes to keep in touch with everyone they know be it a good friend or just a person on the bus. Papa is a social and popular man and organizes a local church, with Mama's help, for many families. Yoshiko is mentioned many times as a fun yet shy child. She can be quite strong at times when personal things are in danger to her but most of the time she is quiet and watching beneath Keiko's shadow. This memoir doesn't read as a regular story but more as a historical novel in which the characters are open to the imagination in their description but in setting in history their characteristics are limited and more precise.
   This story is wonderfully written in a true voice from the actual time period. The problems most Japanese families faced were mentioned and how the particular Uchida family dealt with them. Jam packed with the narrative were many interesting facts that helped understand the story more fully. Ms. Uchida really captured the feeling of her younger life during the 1930's: angst, pain, sorrow, happiness, all of it. I recommend this book to readers of all ages because there is absolutely no reason to not read this amazing book that's filled with such detail and description.



3. Although she wanted to be just American, "a long invisible thread... always bound," Yoshiko Uchida to her Japanese ancestry. In the Invisible Thread: a Memoir by Yoshiko Uchida, Uchida, a second-generation Japanese-American, lives a normal American childhood life living with her family, attending school, dreaming to be a teacher and encountering little racial prejudice in Berkley, California. However, everything changes when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor in 1941. Accordingly, President Roosevelt ignores the Japanese-American's constitutional rights by forcing, "eviction of all Americans of Japanese ancestry along the West Coast," only because they looked like the enemy. I loved The Invisible Thread, because Yoshiko Uchida vividly shares how she and her family struggles and deals with life imprisoned in crowded and isolated Japanese concentration camps and teaches great lessons to her readers.
   
   Throughout the entire book, Yoshiko Uchida provides adjectives, comparisons, similes and metaphors to give detailed descriptions of the surroundings. When she and her family are in the bus that relocates them from California to Topaz, Utah, the concentration camp, in the book she said, "the bus made a sudden turn into the heart of the sun-drenched dessert, and there, in the middle of nowhere, were rows and rows or tar-papered barracks. They looked like small match boxes laid out neatly on a vast white table." She continuously describes Topaz, Utah so well that the pictures at the back of the book look almost exactly like what I had envisioned.
   
   I also love the book because it teaches me many valuable lessons. Yoshiko Uchida is inspiring to me because even though she endures racial discrimination during and after the war, because of her Japanese face, she still has the strength and pride to pursue her dream to become a teacher. Additionally, reading this book has made me appreciate and enjoy my freedom more. Always taking my freedom in America for granted, I never realized that it could be snatched from me any day.
   
   In this moving memoir, Yoshiko Uchida recounts the events preceding, during and following the attack of Pearl Harbor in her life. It also focuses on how she and her family overcame the hardships in this ordeal. I encourage people to read, The Invisible Thread, because it will show you how life for Japanese-Americans dramatically changed during WWII. I would highly recommend this inspiring book for its vivid descriptions, details and strong messages it sends out to all ages.



4. I found this book intriguing. Uchida vividly explains her childhood as a Japanese American and illustrates the need to conform, like any other young child. As she ages, she realizes that her heritage can never be erased, and she is soon penalized for this, a thing she cannot help.
   I enjoyed how Uchida used words to show how innocent she was when she was a child. The beginning of this book shows how, even if Yoshiko wanted to be like other girls, there were still places that she could not go because of her face. She is just like any other girl, living a good life in a good, accepting city.
   I disliked that, towards the middle of the book, about when Uchida and her family are sent to the camps, the author's use of words describing her feelings stops. Instead, she tells more about her surroundings, and less of how she feels about how America has betrayed her and her family.
   The Invisible Thread gives an inside look into the lives of the Japanese Americans forced to make their way in sub-standard living conditions. The vivid language used to describe her family's guests, habits, and unforgettable moments make the book worth the read. I would recommend it to anyone interested in World War II, Japanese American relocation after Pearl Harbor.



5. In addition to her writings about the Japanese and Japanese-American culture, Yoshiko Uchida wrote several fiction books that drew from her experiences as a Japanese American during World War II. The Invisible Thread, written for young adults, is an autobiography that tells of her life before, during her family's internment in a camp in Utah.
   
   Although her parents were Japanese citizens, Yoshi and her sister were born in the United States. They were as American in their speech and culture as the Swedish family next door to them. Yet, because of their appearance, they faced discrimination even before the war. The American government violated the Japanese Americans' constitutional rights when they removed them from their homes. The conditions under which they were forced to live were deplorable.
   
   The author chose not to dwell on the horrors of that period of her life. Although she clearly describes their relocation and the stable and barracks they lived in, her emphasis is more on family life and the positive things they did to keep their lives as normal as possible. She does a fine job of describing her own confusion, her loyalty to her family and friends and her loyalty to the government that betrayed them.
   
   This book is on our local school system's 2005 Summer Reading List. With the current backlash against Arab Americans, this is an important book for children to read. It is only through education and tolerance that we have a hope of avoiding past mistakes.

2 comments about My Mother is a Tractor: A Life in Rural Japan.

1. A friend reccomended this book to me before I begin a study abroad in Japan. I had read alot of "memoir of Japan" type of books and was prepared for something similar to "36 Views of Mt. Fuji" or "Learning to Bow". I quickly learned that Klar prefers to push copious amounts of information all into one fun book. I was taken aback at the lack of organization at first. Klar will launch into a brief, but detailed, talk of perverts in Japan and immediately jump into a Memorial Peach Park opening ceremony. However, the book has a ridiculous amount of (semi) useful information and still remains a memoir of sorts. The book will have you laughing out loud and enjoying Klar's writing style.



2. Before I went to Japan to study in October of 2004, I visited the internet and discovered Nicholas Klar's webpage. He told some really entertaining stories about his times in the JET program (or programme). I was not going to be a JET, but I really wanted to discoved some the "people" side of the Japanese. So I read all I could of his adventures and essays online. Then I emailed him. He was kind enough to reply. In fact, when I inquired about buying his future book he nearly fell all over himself with enthusiasm. This was probably the starving author coming out in him. In any case, I was impressed that he would remember me a year later when the book was published and I was also impressed that the book is a fun read.
   I think Nicholas's JET kids were fortunate to have him in their schools. His book does indeed show the Japanese to be both quirky and fun, which many people might find unexpected. He can tell a story that brings a tear to the eye, as well as one that brings a chuckle to anyone, familiar with Japan or not.
   Buy the book and have a good read.

5 comments about Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community.

1. The only reason i didn't give this book five stars is that i did not want to read it, it was necessary to pass my history class.
   
   The book give you an exceptional insight on the experiences of the Japanese-American in the days following Pearl Harbor. It seems the Americans had reason to be worried after intercepting messages , they received reports about Japanese spies and espionage possibly happening they were simply taking all the safest measures they could. They offered the chance for most Japanese to simply move away from the military zones, and those that refused got interned. Not it is true I wouldn't have picked this book up myself I was sort of forced to know the information for a semester final. But despite me not initially being interested in the topic the book kept my attention because I was interested in the actions and experiences going on during this period in time. The book begins by examination the roles of Asian immigrants in the United States starting in the late 1800s. Giving an idea of what it was like for the Chinese and Japanese to move to America. The book then explains the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1907, both anti-Asian laws and the fact that you couldn't be considered a citizen.
   
   I don't really want to pick a side here ill just state what I read. It just seems the treatment was unfair for the innocent but obviously fair for the guilty if they ever even got caught. And seeing how most were innocent and the government had no way of really knowing the situation of these individuals they just did the safest action possible which was keep then all detained and working. And I see our government as new and inexperienced much as a little kid trying to run a decent business. Also seeing how all of our politicians are motivated by the vote and being popular they want to make the majority of voters which happen to be mostly white citizen, and being as how a bunch of them got surprise bombed they didn't want possible Japanese-American spies contributing to a more intelligent Japanese war machine. Their actions seem justified by that standing. As long as the government and the people are the same they will for the most part agree on each others actions and not punish themselves, so racism motivated by fear and hatred ran wild and that's how everything in this book started. The book was named because of a community in the outskirts of Seattle renowned for its strawberries.
   
   In conclusion I believe the act of the government was wrong or purposely misguided, there seem to be racist schemes involved to keep the Japanese from getting their land after the were let go. I found the book interesting and quite informative on the days when Japanese people were treated like traitors. The one thing I'm still pondering upon is whether I would fight for the country that wouldn't let me have citizenship for forgiveness for an action I didn't commit? I guess I would get some respect but I find it not worth it, its like you got to go fight against possibly your home country for some people that wrongfully accuse you in the first place.



2. Growing up, the only things I had learned about WWII was what I saw in the movies and learned in my history classes. The subject of the Japanese internment during WWII was a topic that rarely came up. When I learned that David Neiwert was writing on the topic, I looked forward to reading it. His book on the extremists in the Northwest was very intriguing and I had hoped this book would be equally as good. And it was.
   
   The book begins be examining the roles of East Asian immigrants in the US starting in the ate 1800's. Giving a brief overview of the experiences of Chinese immigrants and then moving into the early arrival of the Japanese. The book then moves on to explain the early anti-Asian laws passed in the pacific northwest (Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the "Gentleman's Agreement" of 1907, and the various alien land laws). Then, he begins to narrate the story of various Japanese settlers, their families, and their lives from their first arrival until the post-war era.
   
   Many aspects of the decision are addressed throughout the work. The section on the MAGIC cables was very informative. It described how the Government of Japan had wanted to recruit spies from among the disaffected blacks and the Anti-Semitic. And, more importantly, how the Japanese American's made poor spies.
   
   What I found most interesting was the debate within the Japanese community interned at the various camps concerning the oath of allegiance and volunteering for service in the US military. It raised several issues for me to think over as well. The Japanese-Americans were not Japanese and yet they forbidden from becoming American citizens. Not only were they not allowed to be citizens, but they could easily be expelled from the US at any time. Would I sign allegiance to a country that didn't allow me to be a citizen? Would I want to renounce my ancestral home knowing that I could be kicked out of the US and have no country to go to? Would I volunteer to fight for a country that wouldn't allow me to be a citizen? Would I fight to defend a Constitution that didn't apply to me or my family? Would I be willing to give up my life for a country that would not even allow me to own my own home?



3. I have read other books about the internment of Japanese-Americans before, and worried that this book would be dull. However, I found it to be a very interesting and even entertaining read. I too have Japanese-American friends who lived in California and Washington, and were sent to camps, and find it compelling that they don't seem to harbor any bitterness for what they lost, and what was done to them. I don't know that I would be as forgiving.
   
   I would like to comment on a previous reviewer's remark that "There was never a suggestion of moving German-Americans or Italian-Americans into camps." In fact, a suggestion WAS made that Italian-Americans be interred. "Una Storia Segreta : The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II" by Sandra Gilbert is an interesting book on the subject.



4. I found the book interesting but perhaps it is because I am biased. I am of Japanese descent, a member of the community written about and the oldest son of Tom Matsuoka who is referred to throughout the book. The book is a good source for my family history and gives an accurate account of what happened before, during and after the evacuation of Japanese during WWII. From that aspect it will be good reference book. However, I am afraid that most readers not familiar with sociological writings will find this book boring.



5. In light of the September 11 attacks and the recent bombings in London that have provoked talk of interning British Muslims, this is a book people need to read. Racists in America would like nothing better than to destroy the civil rights of our fellow citizens under the giuse of fighting a clear and present danger.

3 comments about The Secret Camera: A Marine's Story: Four Years as a POW.

1. As someone with a deep interest in photography, cameras and World War II, I must say I was most disappointed.
   
   With a title like "The Secret Camera" I expected more about his photographic adventures.
   
   Yet, in a book with close to 250 pages, the camera does not make an appearance until 2/3 of the book had elapsed.
   
   Even then, the photography 'story' seemed incidental.
   
   Of course I sympathize with the author for his ordeal. And, it has strengthened my anti-Japanese resolve. (Until the Japs say sorry for the atrocities of WW2, I refuse to visit that country. Learn their language or eat their food.)
   
   What let me down was the title - The Secret Camera. For me, it cheapened the whole book. I mean, if it had been titled "My exploits as a Japanese prisoner", the book would have been much better, I feel.
   
   For me, I bought the book because I thought it would be largely about his attempts to build the camera, process the film etc. To find out that something promised in the title fills less than 10% of the book is very disappointing.
   
   That said, I think it was brave of the writer to fly in the face of what he had signed and publish the book/pictures.



2. Just a brief update: According to an Associated Press story dated May 12, 2006, the author died on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at the age of 89, apparently after a heart attack. In light of the present controversy surrounding the treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere by the U.S., understanding some of the history of how wartime prisoners have been treated in the past is of particular relevance today. From Fukuoko to Abu Graib...



3. Most of us remember December 7th, 1941 as Pearl Harbor Day. To Terence Kirk, it is more memorable as the day that he (and 202 other China Marines) were captured by the Japanese. They were to remain prisoners for 1,355 days, the entire length of time the U.S. was at war with Japan.
   
   American Marines in Japanese prisoner of war camps were 17.5 times more likely to die from the treatment in those camps than they were to die in combat. Mr. Kirk survived. and as of the time of writing this book there were 31 survivors of the 202 China Marines.
   
   Unique to Mr. Kirk, so far as is known he was the only one to have built a camera while in the POW camp and taken pictures. This is his story and some of the pictures.
   
   Mr. Kirk ends this book: 'If not for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , we would have met certain death.' I think he's right.

5 comments about How To Pick Up Japanese Chicks And Doom Your Immortal Soul.

1. I laughed out loud at least five times. But at the end I felt like this prick of an author used and manipulated me into buying and reading his phony book in the exact same way he manipulated and used his Japanese sex friends over the years: dishonestly.
   
   If you like being schmoozed and made to laugh by someone friendly on the surface but who is always thinking in a mercenary way solely about his own satisfaction (or book profits), and, "Buyer beware, sucker!" then this is just the book for you.
   
   If you have any kind of self regard, I would recommend giving this a pass.
   
   Structurally, there is the advice amateur writers are always given: "Show, don't tell." The writer of this book hasn't taken that to heart. There was way too much superficial "telling."
   
   Specifically, there were the few but utterly unbelievable passages about his church participation that were thrown in because of the reference in the title about doomed immortal souls. Those brief church-related passages didn't fit any more than an imam calling the faithful to prayers at a bacchanalia.



2. Originally I picked this book up just by reading it's funny title.
   Coming with that my interest for Japan (mainly the Japanese chicks ;)).
   I was very pleasantly surprised by it's very attrachtive and funny writing style.
   Come to that the fact that this story had a place to go, not just experts of short and funny stories but to say a life story, with as I mentioned in the title a "hart".
   
   I recommend this book to all that want to be surprised by looking for a light hearted book and ending up with fun and emotion.



3. Trite, contrived and written in a style popular on message boards all over the internet. This is even worse than that Dave Barry Does Japan fiasco. I was glad I had access to a copy prior to purchase. I'd rather not have any more money go towards this drivel.
   
   I've lived in Japan for a number of years myself. The author does a fair job of exploiting a number of stereotypes, both in practice and in writing - think about it.... If you're into that sort of thing, then maybe this is for you.



4. After reading this book, that was pretty much the thought I was left with.
   
   Very weird, loose, writing style, and a lot of content that made me feel like I was missing out on some sort of inside joke (despite being a foreigner who's lived in Japan).
   
   I hate giving bad reviews, but I'm glad I bought this used for 300 yen, otherwise I would be annoyed to say the least.



5. Expecting a more humor-oriented book, I picked this up for a friend of mine who has a Japanese girlfriend. We shared a laugh at the title, but the next time we crossed paths, he told me that he simply could not finish reading.
   
   I decided to complete the book myself, and much to my chagrin, I found that it was more about the average white "loser" foreigner who goes crazy in Japan playing off Japanese misconceptions of white men. He then simulteously manages to shamefully depict the current status of Japanese culture and further objectify the Japanese people as static, monolithic entity, which I personally find offensive. Furthermore, in his tiring, sarcastic style he tries at times to elicit sympathy from the reader, but fails utterly, drowned by his own exploded ego.
   
   His exploits as an unqualified, cynical, semi-pedophiliac English teacher will be sure to make any educated or well-traveled reader livid.
   
   Pick up Edward Said's Orientalism or even Sheridan Prasso's The Asian Mystique (which is a little lighter) instead unless you, like the author, are also an uneducated, immature white male who has had little or no success with women.

1 comments about A Boy's War (An Omf Book).

1. "A Boy's War" tells of a six-year old Australian boy, son of a missionary, who went off to Chefoo boarding school in China in 1939 and didn't see his parents again until 1945. World War II intervened and he was interned by the Japanese in Weihsien camp in Shandong province, China.
   
   This is a brief book of 170 pages, but Michell covers a lot of ground. He tells about his life at the boarding school as the clouds of war gather and Japan conquers more and more of China. Then, he endures two years of internment with more than one thousand other foreigners at Weihsein. The internees were rescued dramatically by American partroopers at the end of the war and young David undertakes an epic journey back to Australia by ship where he is reunited with his family. The author concludes by telling us about his 1985 return visit to Weihsein.
   
   This is a missionary's story and the author affirms his faith, although not in a way that will offend the non-religious. The boy was fortunate in having many surrogate parents during his years of isolation, of whom one of the most important was Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner (recall "Chariots of Fire?") who lived and died at Weihsein. John Birch -- who inspired the radical political organization, the John Birch Society -- is a minor character in the book as he too was a "mish kid" in pre-Communist China.
   
   Weihsien camp in China has generated a great deal of literature. Rarely have so many talented people resided together in such close quarters. "Shantung Compound" is a sociology classic by Langdon Gilkey and "The Call" by John Hersey is one of my favorite novels. "A Boy's War" is a brief introduction to missionary life in China and the experiences of foreigners trapped by war.
   
   Smallchief

2 comments about Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i.

1. Hongo delights us with his poetic voice and I was expecting big things with this memoir. But doesn't a 'memoir' mean you've spent some meaningful time in a locale and are a bit of an expert on it? Hongo left Hawaii for California at a young age and knows little if anything about the history of the aina. His spiritual angle on looking at a leaf, stream, or hardened lava flow is somewhat interesting but the book lacks any meaningful punch because there is little or no characterization. I was expecting him to reconnect with people from his childhood but there are none. He is chasing ghosts from an invented past and the writing suffers for it.



2. This enormously moving book is presented more as a natural history of a land, Hawaii, when it really is a history of one man's soul. Touchingly self revealing, it shares the torment and the ecstasy of one person's search for meaning. I felt the natural history information, the eternal tree and the omnipresent volcano, were metaphors, not the meat of the book. I encourage readers on a personal path of understanding to take on VOLCANO as a guidebook of a singular journey - one that may resonate with many of us. It is wonderful